Aqeela Asifi is an Afghan woman teacher who has educated thousands of refugee children in Mianwali, Pakistan.For refugees, education is as essential as shelter The Guardian Retrieved 24 March 2017
Education Asifi trained in Afghanistan as a teacher of history and geography.A life of teaching Afghan refugee girls BBC Retrieved 24 March 2017
Career Asifi was forced to leave Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul to warlords and dissolution of the Republic of Afghanistan in 1992. When she arrived as a refugee at the Kot Chandna camp in Mianwali, there were no schools for refugee children. Asifi set up a school in a borrowed tent. As of 2017, there are nine schools in the camp with over 1,500 students.The Global Teacher Prize website Global Teacher Prize Retrieved 24 March 2017 Several of these schools are also attended by Afghan refugee girls.Amid Mass Returns, a Teacher’s Hopes for Refugee Girls in Afghanistan News Deeply Retrieved 24 March 2017
In 2015, Asifi was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award for her efforts in providing Afghan refugee children with an education. She has used most of her US$100,000Pakistani Teacher Aqeela Asifi ranked among Top Ten Teachers of the World Daily Times Retrieved 24 March 2017 Nansen prize money to build a new school.Educating Afghan refugees in Pakistan UCA News Retrieved 24 March 2017 The Award honours extraordinary service to refugees.UNHCR names Afghan refugee teacher Aqeela Asifi its 2015 Nansen Refugee Award winner UNHCR Retrieved 24 March 2017
In 2017, the Community Girls Model School No 2 in Kot Chandna, started by Asifi, was recognised by the Department of Education as a higher-secondary school. It is now the first refugee school in the Punjab to be affiliated with a Board of Education.
Over a period of 23 years, Asifi has taught more than 1,000 girls. In 2020 another 1,500 refugee boys and girls were enrolled in six schools.
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